Payment cards, such as credit cards, after issuance and shipment to the customer, need to undergo an activation process before being used for purchases. The issuance of a payment card requires the customer to first request a payment card from his bank. Then, since it takes time for the payment card to be prepared, the bank cannot provide the user, or cardholder, with the payment card at the time of the request. Accordingly, the bank typically ships the payment card to the customer by mail at a later date. As a consequence, the payment card is set to a “not active state” before shipping, because it could be stolen by someone who is not the intended customer. For this reason, the customer is required to activate the card when he receives it.
The payment card activation is typically performed in one of the following modes. For example, the payment card may be activated at a bank office after having received the payment card by the customer going to the bank office and requesting the payment card activation. This activation mode has several disadvantages in that is time consuming for the customer, both because of the time spent at the office and because the bank office is open only during specific times of the day.
Another mode of payment card activation includes activation through a call center. For example, after having received the payment card, the customer may call the bank call center, which verifies customer information (e.g., credentials and other sensitive data) and activates the payment card. This mode also may not be perceived as simple by every customer because it requires a fair amount of time, requires the customer to call at specific times of the day and also poses a possible security threat since it is necessary to provide sensitive data to the operator.
The payment card activation may also be completed through the Web. In particular, after the customer receives the payment card, the customer accesses a bank web page on a bank server and requests card activation. One disadvantage of this mode is that the bank may not be able to confirm that the payment card has been received by the intended customer thereby causing a security issue. Then, the customer has to login to the bank web site, which not all customers may find simple, in particular those customers not comfortable with computers. In addition, it is time consuming.